Dangerous Drugs

Our law firm helps victims who have been injured by defective drugs and medical devices by fighting to get them compensation for their serious injuries or the loss of their loved one. If you or someone you love has been injured by a drug and you believe you might have a claim, call us at 800-553-8082. You can also get more information about your legal options with a free no obligation consultation online.

Defective/Dangerous Drug Lawyers

Every year the Food and Drug Administration approves new drugs for sale on the market. These drugs are produced by large corporations. The reality is that these companies focus on maximizing the value of the stock for their shareholders which means making as much money as they possibly can by selling as many drugs as they can for the highest possible price.

These drugs may include prescriptions, given to patients by their doctor, or over-the-counter drugs like Advil or Tylenol. The purpose of these drugs is to help us live longer, healthier, and happier. Most drugs on the market do just this. But there are far too many drugs out there that should not be on the market or, as is more commonly the case, should carry warnings so that victims can truly appreciate the risks and decided whether the drug is right for them.

Why Do Drug Companies Not Give An Honest Warning?

Why do drug companies fail to put all of the risks on the package insert? Why not just steer clear out of trouble by just disclosing everything? The reason is profit. When you give patients and their doctors all of the information about how the product can harm or kill, you are going to sell less of that product.

Doctors and patients often have a choice between drugs. Doctors are trying to put their patients on the best possible medication to solve their problem that has the lowest risk profile. If one drug admits to risks that another product does not, the doctor's call gets a lot easier, and that reflects in market share.

There are cases where the calculus gets cold. Many of these big profile drugs can withstand legal attacks that force them to pay out millions and even billions of dollars while they keep the medication on the market and continue to make more in sales than they do it litigation costs. It is a wonder there are not more pharmaceutical drug lawsuits.

The FDA Does Not and Cannot Keep Unsafe Drugs Off the Market

Despite getting approved by the FDA, many drugs are dangerous and placed on the market without sufficient testing. Although the FDA has strict guidelines when it comes to maintaining the safety of drugs, the government is not perfect, and the information they receive from the insurance companies is not perfect. Plus, getting FDA approval does not remove the responsibility for the drug corporations. Often problems with drugs aren’t noticeable until after they have been on the market for a long time, meaning patients and consumers may have taken defective/dangerous drugs for years before knowing about a potential issue or recall.

In these cases, the damage is already done, and the consumer is likely to have already been injured by a defective/dangerous drug. Side effects from such drugs can cause severe injury or even death. So if you or a family member has been injured by a defective drug, you are entitled to receive compensation based on those injuries.

How Do Defective Drug Cases Work?

Defective drug cases are different than other cases because they are often more sophisticated. In a typical car accident or slip-and-fall lawsuit, you usually don’t need “experts” to prove your case. In dangerous/defective drug cases you need to use specialists and medical professionals to prove your claim. In any personal injury suit, you need to prove that the defendant caused your injuries. For example, in a traffic accident case, it’s easy to demonstrate that the defendant caused your injuries if he ran a red light and hit your car. Defective drug cases are not so easy because you need to bring in a medical professional to show that the drug scientifically affected your body and caused you harm.

The problem is that the drug corporations have their own experts, whose goal is to disprove your claim and show that the pharmaceutical company is not responsible for your injuries. Otherwise, the drug company may suggest that, even though the drug did cause your injuries, you had enough warning and should have known that the drug may cause dangerous side effects. Regardless of which avenue the corporation takes, one thing remains the same: they are a massive corporation with more than enough resources to defend against your claim. That means if you want to win, you need a law firm that has the resources to fight back against the corporations. Through years of gaining experience, skill, and knowledge as lawyers on both sides of the table, Miller & Zois has the resources to fight for you.

How Do I Make a Claim?

Usually, you are not the only person who has been adversely affected by a bad drug. You may have seen commercials for “class-action” lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies for defective drugs, asking you to join a “class” that is suing the pharmaceutical company.

This is "sort of" right. It is not really a class action. There is rarely a pure class action filed against a drug company for injury and wrongful death claims. What typically happens is that most of these cases end up in federal court because the drug maker defendant is "out-of-state" under federal law. Because there is a large number of cases, all of the claims are consolidated under one federal judge. So if you file suit in Maryland, for example, your case might very well get transferred to a judge in some other state who is handling all of the claims filed nationally. So instead of a class action lawsuit, what you have is an MDL. Which means the cases are consolidated for a while. But at some point, the cases are returned to their individual states if a settlement cannot be reached.

At this point, the lawyers begin common core discovery. This is depositions, interrogatories, and document productions that relate to issues that are common to all or, at least, a large number of the patients who have brought suit. After discovery, you often see a few what are called bellwether trials. What is a bellwether trial? This is where the federal judge who is supervising all of the cases in the MDL holds a trial, maybe a few, to help the parties get a close-up glimpse of the value of these cases.

Everyone can talk tough about how the cases are going to turn out. Defense lawyers are notorious for not being able to imagine losing one of their drug cases. But, ultimately, that often changes pretty quickly when a jury gets a chance to speak. This is why plaintiffs' lawyers in these cases are in a rush to get to trial and the defense lawyers are usually in full stall mode.

If the cases do not settle after the bellwether trials -- though usually, the vast majority of claims do settle by this point -- the cases are sent back to their original states for trial. If your case does not settle, it goes to trial. If you win, the amount that you recover is personalized, based on the specific injuries that you have suffered.

Dealing with the effects of bad drugs is stressful and daunting. As a result of the pharmaceutical corporations, you may have suffered significant injury, had to undergo surgery, or have even lost wages because of missed work.

Miller & Zois realizes the immense burden placed upon individuals who have been affected by a bad drug. Whether your case stems from a recall, a corporation’s failure to warn about possible side effects, or general harm caused by a defective drug, if you believe you have a defective/dangerous drug claim, call 800-553-8082 or get a free online consultation.